GEORGES MEDITERRANEAN BAR AND GRILL - KING STREET WHARF, SYDNEY

Georges Mediterranean Bar and Grill
5A The Promenade
King St Wharf, Sydney

One of the first things that strikes you at King Street Wharf are the magnificent water views and Georges Mediterranean Bar and Grill is in prime position to absorb this.

There is inside and outdoor seating and we were very fortunate to be seated outside to be able to take in their beautiful views.

The weather was glorious which added to the visually appealing landscape of looking out at Darling Harbour and the Maritime museum. 

Georges Mediterranean Bar and Grill is a great place to sit and eat and watch the world go by!

We both started with a glass of Stonefish Merlot - which displayed juicy plums with earthy overtones. This was a lovely wine and complimented our meal nicely.

We had a serving of delicious olives which is always a nice appetiser to prepare you for your meal.

Dips are a great favourite of ours so we started with a selection of all three available dips with Pita bread. The three were tzatziki, fava bean with red onion and capers and finally white Taramosalata. Individually they come with sourdough but we swapped in some pita bread with ours instead.

These dips all had wonderful flavours and we thoroughly enjoyed them. Tzatziki is a real crowd pleaser and the fava bean dip with the capers - oh nice! We really love capers, they go so well with so many things.

White Taramosalata is a roe (fish egg) based dip and both being great fish lovers we really enjoyed this smooth and tasty dip.

The pita bread held together well with the dips and was so nice and warm that we just had to order another serving!

Seeing Halloumi on the menu was a "must"as Sir gravitates to this! The Haloumi was served with compressed watermelon and mint. 

The wonderful soft texture of the Halloumi together with the refreshing and vibrant watermelon and mint made for a great combination.

This was an amazing dish!




Next we had lovely Hortokeftedes - which is wild green dumplings, served with fresh herbs and yoghurt.

The dumplings were deep fried and nicely crisped with generous fillings of "wild greens".

We thoroughly enjoyed them as we we constantly dipped them in the ever popular and oh so yummy yoghurt.



Then we moved on to some Spanakopita - a favourite - which is filo pastry filled with spinach, cheese and spicy onion.

This is a popular dish and not just with Sir and Mlady. The generous serving of this amazing filling encased in a wonderfully crispy filo pastry was something we thoroughly enjoyed.




We also decided to try the Kreatopita. This is filo pastry cigars of slow cooked goat with fresh goat curd. How good was this! The goat had been slow cooked for 8-9 hours which made for an incredibly tender and wonderfully tasting dish. Yum Yum!

Both Filo pastry dishes were generously sized and you could see them plump with their "goodies" inside.

Sir had another wine - this time a Greek wine. He chose Lafazanis Agiorgitiko from the region of Nemea. It was a bright ruby colour with aromas of cherry, plum and black pepper. The colour really was beautiful that Mlady just had to have a sip and thought, as did Sir, that this was a really lovely Red!

The service here is great and the food is wonderful! Then there are those views!

Sir and Mlady dined courtesy of Zomato and Georges Mediterranean Bar and Grill. We would also like to thank Efe and Petra for looking after us so well.

 

BABA CHARLIE MALAYSIAN - KING ST WHARF, SYDNEY

Baba Charlie Malaysian
30 Lime St
Sydney CBD

The Sir and Mlady team met for a Christmas bash at this popular restaurant recently.

Baba Charlie serves a wide variety of Malaysian food, with a few added extra dishes from neighbouring countries as well. We ate a lot, a real lot, and the whole team thought the food was great.

We each had our own particular favourite dishes, but we all agreed it was good Malaysian food in a prime location in the CBD.

Here is a long pictorial run through of the many dishes we had on our lovely finale to the 2015 year.

We ate a lot of food at Baba Charlie, and we'd gladly eat there again. The Malaysian food we had was delicious, packed full of big flavours, great ingredients and with plenty of variety. We worked our way through a big chunk of their menu too!

Sir and Mlady's visit to Baba Charlie was supported by the Malaysian Kitchen Programme.

CASA RISTORANTE ITALIANO - KING ST WHARF, SYDNEY

Casa Ristorante Italiano
42-48 The Promenade
King St Wharf
Sydney

The views here are amazing! The new Casa Ristorante Italiano sits right on King St Wharf looking out across the water towards the Maritime Museum and Darling Harbour. These are million dollar views - and it seems the folks just down the wharf at Barangaroo agree.

Casa is a large place, seating up to 250 guests. However it is cleverly set out in different sections so they can cater for the many without seeming crowded. It's understandably going to be popular for groups and functions - its location helps but the tasty food actually makes this happen. They've kept parts of the previous menu but added to it cleverly.

The red white and green glasses above the bar mirrored the Italian flag.






















We started with one of our favourites when eating Italian - arancini. This version of the traditional fried risotto balls were stuffed with pumpkin and smoked mozzarella and came resting on dollops of chilli mayonnaise. They looked great and tasted just as good.

I had a rum based creation from the bar to start with which was delicious and Mlady had a glass of Jim Barry Cover Drive Cabernet Sauvignon.





















The Olive E Capperi is a great starter to nibble on - and we kept grazing on them throughout dinner.

The dish was nicely presented in a cute cast iron pan filled with young olives and capers marinated with chilli, garlic and sage.

A few slices of bread were more than a garnish but we predominantly stuck to the lovely olives.

Our next (third) starter was another great version of an old favourite - fiori di zucca.

These crisp battered zucchini flowers were stuffed with goats milk fetta, black olives, semi-dried tomatoes and served with chilli jam.

The crisp batter on the outside and the gooey filling inside went so well together. The added tang of the black olives, semi-dried tomatoes and chilli jam capped it all off so well.

I'm a sucker for a good pork belly dish and this was a lovely combination and cooked so well. .

The crispy pork belly came with truffle mash, seared scallops and cabbage and was finished with an apple mousse and cider reduction.

The meat was extremely tender and the crackling was deliciously crisp with the side of scallops and the sauces combining perfectly.

The wood fired pizza oven has pride of place at Casa and they deliver great pizzas from it.

We tried a Genovese pizza - made with citrus infused prawns, creamy pesto, fior di latte mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, pancetta and walnuts.

Wow. It looked amazing and tasted soooo good. It was a complex pizza but it all went together very well.

Mlady was in a pasta kind of mood so she chose the Aragosta & Granchio Ravioli (Lobster and Crab Ravioli).

This was described as the chefs homemade ravioli filled with lobster and crab and finished with a shellfish butter sauce.

She loved every mouthful of it - she even used the bread from the olives to soak up the sauce! Oink.






















Dessert time had finally arrived - an essential part of every meal!

I wanted something quite sweet so I chose the warm chocolate tart. It was served with strawberries, pistachio, salted caramel and ice cream.

It was a warm chocolate tart that was runny and rich with everything combining nicely. It certainly hit the spot.

Mlady continued her love of tiramisu with the Classic Tiramisu.

It was silky soft and oh so smooth.

The chocolate soil was crunchy and melted in her mouth and it was a unique addition to a classic dessert. It clearly tasted pretty good as well because she was very reluctant to share any of it - but I eventually did get a mouthful.

Casa is a lovely venue in a lovely location. The food is certainly a highlight - presented well and with interesting and tasty combinations. Service is personal and personable. It ticks all the boxes.

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Casa Ristorante Italiano and The Platinum Group. Special thanks to Daniela, Hannah and Kai for looking after us so capably and nicely on our visit. A big thanks also to Sacha for arranging our visit.